Gates: U.S. leading on Ebola fight

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is a “great example” of how the world must come together to tackle a global health issue, Bill Gates said Monday, and despite the widespread criticism of a slow early international response, the billionaire philanthropist noted that what’s taking place now is “quite impressive.”

“There’s a pretty clear road map of what needs to be done,” he said at POLITICO’s “Lessons From Leaders” event. Gates predicted that the health infrastructure essential to a turnaround would be in place within “the next 30 days.”

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Gates is the founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which this month committed $50 million to fight the Ebola epidemic through emergency medical care, supplies and long-term research into potential treatment therapies. It was the largest single donation the foundation has ever pledged to a humanitarian cause.

In an hour-long wide-ranging conversation with POLITICO editor Susan Glasser and Chief White House correspondent Mike Allen, Gates also spoke about his support for Common Core education standards, the reason he doesn’t give much to politicians and even his taste in fast food.

He declined to fault the global response to Ebola, calling the situation in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea “a very unique Ebola epidemic” and describing the weak health systems and other fundamental issues the region is confronting after years of civil war, which have exacerbated the current crisis.

In particular, he praised the U.S. effort to date, which recently expanded to include the mobilization of up to 3,000 military troops to set up field hospitals, train health workers and provide other key logistical support to those three devastated countries.

“The U.S. is a leader in being able to move into areas” and turn the tide, he said.

Optimism aside, Gates wouldn’t say when he thinks the epidemic might begin to wane. Its spread remains a “big concern,” he noted, stressing that nations need to be ready to react fast should the virus suddenly cross new borders.

The conversation with Gates expanded beyond Ebola into a broader discussion of the foundation’s work in global health, which has focused on eradicating diseases like malaria and polio, spurring advances in vaccines and supporting farmers in developing countries as a key way of improve nutrition.

He talked about the impact seen through building up primary care systems in developing countries, then quickly brought that success back to West Africa, where the worst outbreak of Ebola in history is continuing to accelerate. In Liberia and Sierra Leone, nearly 5,500 cases had been reported as of last Tuesday, but health experts believe that number is a gross under-count of what’s really happening. Deaths in those two countries and Guinea are nearing 3,100, according to the World Health Organization’s official tally.

CDC warned last week that if the disease is not contained soon through a massive and sustained international response, 1.4 million people could be infected by January.

“If we’d had [strong primary health care there], this epidemic would have been caught a month or two before it was,” Gates said.

He drew laughs several times, in particular when asked about the “giving pledge” he and fellow billionaire Warren Buffet have issued to challenge the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to donate much of their money to philanthropic efforts. “We’re not saying to give it all away,” he clarified quickly.